E-Paper
‘9 new medical colleges, new pan-India health scheme’: Here’s what PM Modi will launch in UP on Oct 25
According to a release by the PMO, medical colleges will be inaugurated in Siddharthanagar – where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit on Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate as many as nine medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh on Monday during his visit to Siddharthnagar district in the state, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. Besides, he will launch the Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PMASBY) – a pan-India health scheme to boost the healthcare infrastructure of the country.
On October 16, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath mentioned PM Modi inaugurating multiple medical colleges in the northern state, including the newly constructed Siddharthanagar Medical College named after Jan Sangh founder leader Madhav Prasad Tripathi.
According to the PMO release, apart from Siddharthanagar, the remaining eight medical colleges will be inaugurated in Hardoi, Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, Ghazipur, Mirzapur, Jaunpur, Etah and Deoria districts on Monday.
The Centre said that eight medical institutions have been sanctioned under the centrally sponsored scheme, which aims to set up colleges attached with district or referral hospitals, while one institution to be inaugurated in Jaunpur on Monday has been made operational by the Adityanath-led state government using its own resources.
Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and Union minister of health and family welfare Mansukh Mandaviya will also be present at the event. Furthermore, PM Modi will also inaugurate many development projects worth more than ₹5, 200 crore in Varanasi.
For institutions established under the centrally sponsored scheme, preference is generally given to “underserved, backward and aspirational districts.” Its agenda is to increase the availability of health professionals in these regions, rectify the “geographical imbalance” in the distribution of medical institutes, and effectively utilise the existing infrastructure of district hospitals.
“Under three phases of the Scheme, 157 new medical colleges have been approved across the nation, out of which 63 medical colleges are already functional,” the PMO statement read.
As far as PMASBY is concerned, the statement explained that it aims to fill “critical gaps in public health infrastructure, especially in critical care facilities and primary care in both the urban and rural areas.”
Notably, the nationwide health scheme, which is an additional benefit available for Indian citizens to avail of, was first announced in Union Budget 2021-22 on February 1. An outlay of about ₹64,180 crore over six years (till financial year of 2025-26) has been sanctioned for the scheme.
Here are some of the key objectives of PMASBY:
1. To provide support to a total of 17,788 rural health and wellness centres in 10 high focus states of India.
2. Setting up of integrated public health laboratories in all districts of 11 high focus states along with 3,382 block public health units.
3. Establishing critical care hospital blocks in more than 600 districts and 12 central institutions.
4. Strengthening the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), its five regional branches and as many as 20 metropolitan health surveillance units.
5. Establishing up to 15 health emergency operation centres and two mobile hospitals.
